Pocket Watches

Watch Snob: Can You Pull Off A Pocket Watch?

Pocket Watches

Whatever happened to pocket watches? I want one within the $2,500-$5,000 range, but I can't seem to locate a reputable dealer. No one seems to carry these anymore.

Mr. Van Winkle, I’m surprised to find you on email. Can’t find a reputable dealer of pocket watches? Sorry to say, you’re about 100 years too late. They went out of fashion about the same time as the horse and buggy. The pocket watch disappeared along with another sorely missed article of men’s kit: the waistcoat. Those little vestigial pockets you see on the vests of three-piece suits once served a purpose, and it was with particular flourish and ceremony that a man could whip out his pocket watch to see how late the 4:03 train was running. The fact is, nowadays, there’s really no good place to carry a pocket watch unless you are wearing a waistcoat — and I doubt many readers are.But if you insist on owning one, and I admire you if you do, there are still many fine pocket watches to be had. And most are well within your budget. Many of the American pocket watches from the early 20th century can be had for well under $1,000, and the craftsmanship is on par with many high-end watches from modern manufactures. Of course, the sky is the limit, and if you find yourself in the back streets of Geneva, you may stumble upon a little antique dealer selling early Patek pocket watches. But be prepared to pay for one.There are some watch companies now starting to sell pocket watches. Bell & Ross, that fashion purveyor masquerading as a watch company, sells a handsome but overpriced Unitas-driven piece and, as much as it pains me to say it, they’re onto something, and I hope other companies follow suit. But with the availability of so many classic old watches, I still say vintage is the way to go here.

TAG Heuer's Comeback

Dear Snob,

One of your many criticisms of TAG Heuer over the years has been its use of stock movements. As if in direct response to your critique (quite likely in my opinion) TAG has released the in-house Calibre 1887. What are your thoughts on this movement?

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I am willing to change my mind about a watch company, but it has to convince me first. I will go on the record to say that TAG Heuer is turning things around. While its recent belt-driven and pendulum movements have been little more than whimsical experiments that were never intended to see the light of day, this past year, they’ve released the Calibre 1887 and the Mikrotimer, and they’re suddenly a company worthy of some respect again.Of course, it wouldn’t be TAG Heuer without an overblown product release, and the brand shot itself in the proverbial foot when it excitedly claimed that the Calibre 1887 was a wholly in-house movement. When news came out that the movement was based on a proven Seiko design, TAG was forced to backpedal like a politician caught with his pants around his ankles in an airport bathroom.

Frankly, I found the controversy to be a tempest in a teacup, and the 1887 is actually a decent movement, a proper column wheel chronograph with all the merits of what that type of movement should be. Not to mention, at around $5,000, it is actually within reach of the clueless middle-manager loyalists that have always made up TAG’s base clientele.

Question from a Watch Knob

Budget: $30,000Requirements: A watch with a skeleton design expressing mature youth with class and dignity. To be worn at the parties with great women and men who can sell their shoes and buy my house with money still left over. Needs to slide under the sleeve of a fine tailored suit, occasionally peaking out to great the world elegantly — none of the clumsy crap with a lot of buttons! Finally, it cannot have a metal strap (I think they ruin the skeleton face).How someone who cannot spell or string a coherent paragraph together can afford a $30,000 watch is a mystery to me. Pray tell, is this piece for you or one of your elegant, mature, youthful, and expensively-shod friends? Regardless, I am happy to abide your request and have the perfect watch for “peaking" out from your tailored sleeve: the Romain Jerome Titanic DNA. Not only is it skeletonized and has no buttons, but it is made of the rusted metal of a sunken ocean liner, so it is a fine reminder of the dangers of hubris.